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MANGO: An optical network to study the dynamics of the Earth’s upper atmosphere
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  • Asti Bhatt,
  • Brian J Harding,
  • Jonathan J. Makela,
  • Luis Navarro,
  • Leslie Lamarche,
  • Todd Valentic,
  • Elizabeth Kendall,
  • Padma Venkatraman
Asti Bhatt
SRI International

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Brian J Harding
University of California, Berkeley
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Jonathan J. Makela
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
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Luis Navarro
Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center, University of Colorado
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Leslie Lamarche
SRI International, Menlo Park CA, USA
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Todd Valentic
SRI International
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Elizabeth Kendall
SRI International
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Padma Venkatraman
University of California Berkeley
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Abstract

The Mid-latitude All-sky-imaging Network for Geophysical Observations (MANGO) employs a combination of two powerful optical techniques used to observe the dynamics of Earth’s upper atmosphere: wide-field imaging and high-resolution spectral interferometry. Both techniques observe the naturally occurring airglow emissions produced in the upper atmosphere at 630.0- and 557.7-nm wavelengths. Instruments are deployed to sites across the continental United States, providing the capability to make measurements spanning mid to sub-auroral latitudes. The current instrument suite in MANGO has five all-sky imagers observing the 630.0-nm emission (integrated between ~250-400 km altitude), four all-sky imagers observing the 557.7-nm emission (integrated between ~97-100 km altitude), and three Fabry-Perot interferometers measuring neutral winds and temperature using both these wavelengths. The deployment of additional imagers is planned. The network makes unprecedented observations of the nighttime thermosphere-ionosphere dynamics with the expanded field-of-view provided by the distributed network of instruments. This paper describes the network, the instruments, the data products, and first results from this effort.
02 May 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
04 May 2023Published in ESS Open Archive